Aug. 14, 2008 - Thankful Thursday & Without Love
This week I am thankful for God's mercy, for the truth found in His Word, for His patience towards me, and for His everlasting love.
I am also thankful for a wonderful time I had with extended family when two of my cousins were in town with their families.
I am thankful for some very deep discussions I have had with some other Christian ladies on a homeschool board I visit. It has been very refreshing to read the comments by others and see their views.
I am thankful that my wrists are doing a bit better, so I was able to list several homeschool items on Ebay. I even listed Auralog Spanish, which is highly recommended by TOS. 
Without Love
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” II Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV)
I thought it was interesting to note that in the Greek, “without love” actually means to be without family love. We have sure seen an increase in this over the last few years. I remember the horror of hearing how Susan Smith killed her two young sons by leaving them in the car, then letting the car roll into the water. Yet, there have been countless other stories in recent years of other parents killing their own children.
There was also the highly profiled story of the Menendez brothers killing their parents. Yet, they weren’t the only ones who have done such an atrocious act. There have been countless others over the last few years. Doesn’t it sound like these families are “without family love”?
How does this scripture apply to the lives of Christian families? Half of all marriages end in divorce, even in the church. I know of a personal example of a ‘Christian’ man who decided to leave his wife and children so that he could live with his same-sex partner. I know personal examples of ‘Christian’ men who beat their wives. These are hard-core cases of families who are “without family love.”
I have a friend who used to work in a battered women’s shelter. She told me that the top three abusers are policemen, military men, and pastors. I have heard so many stories of youth pastors sexually abusing teenaged girls. That brings such pain, not to mention shame, to their families when it is exposed. It also causes a lifetime of pain for the young ladies who have been violated by a man whom they should have been able to trust.
What about families who are too busy in outside activities to ever sit down to a meal together? What happened to family nights, where families would play games and enjoy each other’s company? Could it be that we have traded family love for outside activities?
There are many families who leave the spiritual training of the children to a Sunday school teacher. That is contrary to scripture. Deuteronomy 6 makes it very clear that spiritual training is the job of the parents. In Proverbs, there are many verses that mention listening to your father and not forsaking the teaching of your mother. Again, it is clear that spiritual training is up to us, as parents, and not someone else. When we fail to be diligent to train our children in biblical principles, doesn’t that also show a lack of family love?
We are all very busy, but we must constantly guard against becoming so inundated with activities that we fail to properly teach and train our children. We must be militant in keeping the family love alive, in both our marriages and in our parenting.
© 2006, Stacy R. Miller
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Aug. 14, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by http://shortybearsplace.blogspot.com/
Praying for you to be sweetly blessed.
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Aug. 14, 2008 - Thankful Thursday
Posted by Anonymous
Lovely list. Thanks for sharing the devotion.
Beverly
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Aug. 14, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by mamasmurf
The love God sends us through our families is truly precious! The love He showed us by sending and scrificing His own Son is the best example of what family love should be.
May God bless you ~Chrissy
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Aug. 14, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
You are exactly right! Amen Sister! I feel it is my job as a parent to teach my children the Christian ways. I enjoyed my visit here today. Thanks for sharing. Happy Thankful Thursday. - Cheryl
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Aug. 15, 2008 - Thank you!
Posted by Anonymous
Thank you for your kindness by stopping at my new site and offering to spread the word about it. Hope your wrists heal quickly!
Barb
http://barbaramfrank.blogspot.com
http://barbarafrankonline.com
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